Yakov wanted to receive input on the importance of book titles and we at least owe him a response. When it comes to my own book purchasing habits, I use the following methodology:

1. Similiar to Yakov, if I know keyworks, I search online and read book descriptions.

2. There are two individuals at work (Hi Mike and Jeff) that have suggested books to me. Usually when they are passionate about a particular title, I tend to trust their judgement and follow suite.

3. If the book is mentioned on Slashdot and/or any of the bloggers in my BlogRoll, I will consider.4. Make a decision based on who the particular publisher is. For example, I haven't purchased a book written by Manning in about five years as usually there books are of such a beginner nature. Likewise, I haven't purchased a book from O'Reilly in about ten years as they simply aren't covering topics that I would be interested in reading. It seems as if the vast majority of books I own come from Addison Wesley with MKP being a strong second.

5. The final decision used in purchasing books are those authors whom have either referenced one of my own books in their bibliography and/or allowed me to provide an endorsement that appears on the back cover of the book

6. Well, actually there is a sixth criteria. I positively will never purchase a book written by an employee of an outsourcing firm! Usually this isn't too big of a problem since most employees of outsourcing firms are somewhat average (at best) and lack thought leadership.

I wonder if the Pragmatic Programmers could write about another boneheaded trend which is the outsourcing of innovation. Maybe us bloggers could start posting photos of executives that were stupid enough to believe such nonsense. I wonder if folks realize that outsourcing to countries where software development is cheaper but otherwise subpar is actually starting to get more expensive? This feels like IT has managed to create yet another form of legacy...

Another form of book is the ilk put out by industry analysts. Usually these folks are paid to provide a message to large enterprises that is somehow supposed to be interpreted as being unbiased but most folks know better. The analysts that aren't worth their salt are already seeing their marketshare erode and migrate to smaller boutique firms while others realize that customers may start their own form of analyst research and embrace the notion of open source industry analysis. The next logical trend will be for these same analyst firms to see themselves get outsourced to India. I wonder if they will start telling folks in corporate America not only about so-called cost savings opportunities but be equally vigilant in telling us about all the failures that occur as well. After all, if analysts start presenting a balanced view, it cost save jobs including their own.

One entity that is bringing an interesting perspective though is Think Progress. I was intriqued by one of their articles entitled: The United States of Accenture. I have dropped a note to Anoop Sagoo of Accenture in hopes he may comment in his own blog about his own perspectives on bringing back jobs to America.

In all fairness, India is very innovative. After all, they have mastered the ability to abuse H1B Visas. Anyway, bet you didn't know that our own Federal Government also outsources to India...